Title: Intro to genetics/ meiosis Grade Level: 10 Course: Biology Lesson Overview:
In this lesson I will be introducing the students to genetics. It will start of with an opening activity and move on into discussion as well as explanation. I want the students to know that traits and expressions comes from their parents and that the reason for this is meiosis.
With the fish activity, this is a fun way for the students to look at a family of fish and see that from two parents you can have that much genetic differences.
Learning Performances
The opening activity will get their minds thinking about traits and reproduction. With this I can move right into meiosis. The concept of meiosis shouldn’t be rough do to the fact that they have already gone through in great detail mitosis. Students will know that traits come from their parents and that many traits came be seen in offspring, as well as that the reasoning of this is meiosis.
Materials Needed
• Fish pictures
• Paper
• Old mitosis worksheet
Computer
Projector
Time Required
About 40 min or one class period
Instructional Sequence
Introducing the lesson
I will start of asking if any of the students have fish tanks at home. If any say yes I can work off of this by asking Do you ever see baby fish in your tank. What do you notice about these babies? If not I will talk about my fish tank. This is why I decided to use guppies, we have a fish tank and they breed like rabbits and you can really see the genetic differences. While doing that I will be handing out the worksheet. Also having them work with their desk partner and work on the worksheet.
Instructional Activities
The worksheet is three papers with two pictures on each for six pictures of guppies. I will have the students list all of the differences between the fish. After a few min. I will go around the room and ask them for some of the differences that they came up with. I will list these on the board. I will then ask them to discuss if any of these fish are related to each other?, and in what ways. This should open up a small discussion. I will use a power point presentation to project the pictures on the wall. As each group of pictures come up I ask them Yes or No if they are related to each other or to any of the others. I'm looking for informal group answering, shouting out. With the last slid it will show them that all the fish are related to each other even though they look different. Asking questions like, why don't all the offspring look alike? I will lead this into questions like, how many of you have brothers or sisters? Why don’t you look the same? This will connect what I am teaching them into their lives and hopefully making them more interested in what they are learning. Explain half of your traits come from father (sperm) and half from mother (egg). This is done through meiosis. After this I will handout a worksheet that they have done already in the past of mitosis. Then I can explain that meiosis is just like mitosis but it goes through the steps twice but still with only replicating the DNA once. I will ask them how do you think it works? What do you think this looks like? This will have the students thinking and using their imagination to come up with an answer. If they are having trouble i can start to guide them. I can ask them where do you think meiosis changes and/or different from mitosis? I can draw the last step of meiosis on the board and have them work backwards from there and discover for themselves how the process happens.
Concluding the Lesson
Concluding the lesson will be me reiterating what we have talked about for the day. I want them to understand that half the genetic material comes from mom and half from dad. The activity shows them that from two parents you can have a lot of offspring that look nothing alike. They will be given a homework assignment of making note cards and doing reading from the book. Term are homologous, diploid, haploid, tetrad, and crossing over. They have been using the note cards since early October and they understand the how and what they are used for. The reading will be pg. 275 Chromosome number through 278 comparing mitosis to meiosis. They will also have to write a short pharagraph on what was done in the activity and what they got out of it.
Assessing Student Understanding
For an assessment the students will have to right a short paper on the lab and what they saw and why all the fish look different but have the same parents. I will use this more for me, to see I they understood what points I was trying to get accross to them. This is not a graded assingment it is handed in a checked if it was done but to more to help me know what they either took or understood from the work.
Cautions
The only caution that I can see I when talking about sex cell not loosing the students do to immaturity.
Rationale
With doing the lesson in this manner it is tying it to their lives with questions about why you and you siblings don’t look alike. With using fish the difference in traits are pretty obvious. Bring back their prior knowledge of mitosis is the first step in understanding meiosis. Meiosis and mitosis is very similar and by bring it back it will make it easier for them to understand it.
Grade Level: 10
Course: Biology
Lesson Overview:
In this lesson I will be introducing the students to genetics. It will start of with an opening activity and move on into discussion as well as explanation. I want the students to know that traits and expressions comes from their parents and that the reason for this is meiosis.
With the fish activity, this is a fun way for the students to look at a family of fish and see that from two parents you can have that much genetic differences.
Learning Performances
The opening activity will get their minds thinking about traits and reproduction. With this I can move right into meiosis. The concept of meiosis shouldn’t be rough do to the fact that they have already gone through in great detail mitosis. Students will know that traits come from their parents and that many traits came be seen in offspring, as well as that the reasoning of this is meiosis.
Links to Standards or Benchmarks
Dan Wilson - Learning Goal Analysis
Materials Needed
• Fish pictures
• Paper
• Old mitosis worksheet
Computer
Projector
Time Required
About 40 min or one class period
Instructional Sequence
Introducing the lesson
I will start of asking if any of the students have fish tanks at home. If any say yes I can work off of this by asking Do you ever see baby fish in your tank. What do you notice about these babies? If not I will talk about my fish tank. This is why I decided to use guppies, we have a fish tank and they breed like rabbits and you can really see the genetic differences. While doing that I will be handing out the worksheet. Also having them work with their desk partner and work on the worksheet.
Instructional Activities
The worksheet is three papers with two pictures on each for six pictures of guppies. I will have the students list all of the differences between the fish. After a few min. I will go around the room and ask them for some of the differences that they came up with. I will list these on the board. I will then ask them to discuss if any of these fish are related to each other?, and in what ways. This should open up a small discussion. I will use a power point presentation to project the pictures on the wall. As each group of pictures come up I ask them Yes or No if they are related to each other or to any of the others. I'm looking for informal group answering, shouting out. With the last slid it will show them that all the fish are related to each other even though they look different. Asking questions like, why don't all the offspring look alike? I will lead this into questions like, how many of you have brothers or sisters? Why don’t you look the same? This will connect what I am teaching them into their lives and hopefully making them more interested in what they are learning. Explain half of your traits come from father (sperm) and half from mother (egg). This is done through meiosis. After this I will handout a worksheet that they have done already in the past of mitosis. Then I can explain that meiosis is just like mitosis but it goes through the steps twice but still with only replicating the DNA once. I will ask them how do you think it works? What do you think this looks like? This will have the students thinking and using their imagination to come up with an answer. If they are having trouble i can start to guide them. I can ask them where do you think meiosis changes and/or different from mitosis? I can draw the last step of meiosis on the board and have them work backwards from there and discover for themselves how the process happens.
Concluding the Lesson
Concluding the lesson will be me reiterating what we have talked about for the day. I want them to understand that half the genetic material comes from mom and half from dad. The activity shows them that from two parents you can have a lot of offspring that look nothing alike. They will be given a homework assignment of making note cards and doing reading from the book. Term are homologous, diploid, haploid, tetrad, and crossing over. They have been using the note cards since early October and they understand the how and what they are used for. The reading will be pg. 275 Chromosome number through 278 comparing mitosis to meiosis. They will also have to write a short pharagraph on what was done in the activity and what they got out of it.
Assessing Student Understanding
For an assessment the students will have to right a short paper on the lab and what they saw and why all the fish look different but have the same parents. I will use this more for me, to see I they understood what points I was trying to get accross to them. This is not a graded assingment it is handed in a checked if it was done but to more to help me know what they either took or understood from the work.
Cautions
The only caution that I can see I when talking about sex cell not loosing the students do to immaturity.
Sources
Ordemann, Catherine Genetics. Retrieved December 7, 2007, Web site: http://www.uwsp.edu/Education/pcook/unitplans/genetics.htm
Miller, Kenneth and Joseph Levine (2002). Biology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Teaching Resources
guppies
guppies pres
Rationale
With doing the lesson in this manner it is tying it to their lives with questions about why you and you siblings don’t look alike. With using fish the difference in traits are pretty obvious. Bring back their prior knowledge of mitosis is the first step in understanding meiosis. Meiosis and mitosis is very similar and by bring it back it will make it easier for them to understand it.